Boyz

Theatre previews of three exciting shows

James Dean Is Dead! (Long Live James Dean)

This powerful, no-holds-barred one-man show at the Kings Head Theatre begins as James Dean, one of Hollywood’s hottest ever actors, steps out of his crashed car before looking back on his short, iconic life.

Starring Kit Edwards and directed by Peter Darney, James Dean Is Dead! (Long Live James Dean) is a timely look at how the film industry uses sex, drugs and power to make and break careers. And interestingly, the play’s author, Jackie Skarvellis, passed away in 2016, but Jackie had left money to help fund this production.

A Little Hero

The White Bear Theatre in Kennington presents the world premiere and three-week run of Russian play A Little Hero from Tuesday 7 August.

Written by Valeriy Pecheykin, a talented young, gay Russian playwright, in January 2014 – and published in Russian in the alternative literary magazine, Mitin Journal – A Little Hero tells the story of 14-year-old Vovochka, who idolises president Putin, and seeks to put the world to rights after learning about homosexuality in school. The play presents the difficult reality of being gay in Putin’s Russia with a literal interpretation of this sentiment – a surreal crematorium disguised as an experimental ‘treatment’ device.

Writer Valeriy told Boyz, “I was ‘inspired’ by the anti-gay law passed in Russia in 2013. After that, attacks on gays from right wing radicals began in Russia. I decided that it is important to fix this moment in the history of my country. Then in Russia, the government began to artificially increase homophobia and justify it ‘in the interests of children’. So I invented a homophobic child named Vovochka, a diminutive name for Vladimir.

“Everywhere in Russia there were such boys. It seems to me that people always need to know exactly how evil develops. It is important to understand the ‘mechanics of evil’ and see how an anecdote can turn into a tragedy. My hero also wants to find a mission, but can not distinguish between good and evil, because adults have lost this difference.”

And although A Little Hero was published in Mitin Journal, because of a 2013 law banning distribution of propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations among minors, the magazine must be sold in a black plastic cover with a note announcing that it contains information unsuitable for persons under 18. For the same reason, the play stands no chance of being staged in Russia in the foreseeable future.